A man was arrested after allegedly driving his car into an El Cajon motel on Thursday in an apparent attack against the clerk, whom he'd argued with earlier in the night.

A man was arrested after allegedly driving his car into an El Cajon motel on Thursday in an apparent attack against the clerk, whom he'd argued with earlier in the night. (Courtesy of San Diego News Video)

A 62-year-old man rammed his car into a motel lobby Thursday night in El Cajon in an apparent attack on a clerk whom he’d argued with earlier in the evening, police said.

The incident sent the motel employee to a hospital with moderate injuries, while the driver was arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide, El Cajon police Lt. Jason Taub told San Diego News Video.

The events leading up to the attack began around 5:30 p.m. with some sort of violent domestic dispute between the suspect and a woman staying at the Budget Inn Motel on East Main Street north of Interstate 8, Taub said.

“At some point he left one of the hotel rooms, made contact with the clerk, there were some words exchanged (and he) made some threats to come back and hurt the clerk,” Taub said.

Around 8 p.m., the man apparently made good on the threats, crashing his sedan through the wall and into the office where the clerk was sitting behind a desk, Taub said. The clerk sustained moderate injuries and was taken to a hospital, while the driver, who was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol, was apparently uninjured.

El Cajon officers arrested the driver on suspicion of attempted homicide. He also was expected to be booked into jail on suspicion of domestic violence and possibly alcohol-related driving charges, Taub said.

Thursday’s incident was the second attack in three nights that targeted employees at motels separated by about a half-mile on East Main Street, according to El Cajon police. Around 9 p.m. Tuesday, a man allegedly fired several rounds into the check-in office at the El Cajon Inn & Suites near North Second Street.